Baby-sitter
by Black Kaitou
Summary: Arthur leaves Alfred to watch over Peter while he goes to a meeting. Through the entire meeting Arthur worries about leaving Peter under Alfred's care. After the meeting Arthur hurries to Alfred's home hopping that Peter will still be there and not off somewhere else. Little does he know that Alfred knows a thing or two about children, and that he can be mature enough to deal with.


**Baby-sitter**

**I got inspirited to write this when I saw a picture with Alfred and Peter together and thought how well Alfred would be as a baby-sitter and it went on from there.**

Arthur bounced his leg up and down as he waited for the taxi to hurry up and get out of traffic. Earlier that day Arthur along with his younger brother Peter were visiting Alfred in the States, but a call came in from Matthew asking Arthur if he could come over for a meeting that would take a few hours. Alfred volunteered to watch Peter while Arthur went to the meeting, and hesitantly Arthur agreed only because if he took Peter he would have to keep track of the boy while talking with politicians. Now that the meeting was over Arthur was in a hurry to get back to Alfred and Peter, fearing what he would find. Peter if not watched would end up in a completely different hemisphere if he was allowed to, a fact they found out when Raivis was tasked with watching the boy and he ended up in Australia. And Alfred was not even on the list of people he would leave Peter with, knowing how immature and childish the nation could be. Arthur prayed that he at most will find the house destroyed but still have the two there. The taxi turned from off the main road and onto Alfred's street, stopping in the drive way Arthur quickly gave his money to the taxi driver and was out the door. Running up the steps Arthur quickly went into the house searching for the two younger personifications. The house was silent and empty, panicking Arthur almost missed a note that was on the kitchen table. Taking deep breaths to calm down Arthur picked up the note and read:

**We went to the park down the road, if ya return before we get back you're welcomed to stay here till we get back.**

** Alfred**

Setting the note down Arthur ran back out the door heading for the park that was down the road. Not slowing down till he reached the park gates, Arthur instead walked through the gates trying not to alarm anyone while searching for the two blonds. Seeing a familiar blond Arthur quickly jogged to him, still searching for Peter.

"Where's Peter?" Arthur asked coming up to Alfred quickly causing Alfred to jump in surprise.

"What?" Alfred said.

"Peter where is he? Please don't tell me you lost him."

"Chill dude." Alfred said standing up. "I was only surprised to see you this early, and I didn't lose him. He's over there playing with some kids." Alfred said pointing over towards the jungle gym were Arthur could indeed see Peter with five or six other children. Sighing in relief Arthur collapsed onto the bench feeling drained. Alfred sat down next to him still watching Peter but also keeping an eye on Arthur slightly worried for the older nation. Spending a few hours at the park, Alfred finally called Peter over to them saying its time they head back. Peter reluctantly said good-bye to his friends and ran ahead of the pair, Alfred telling him not to go too far. Arthur surprised at how mature Alfred was acting walked silently next to Alfred, letting him take charge in keeping Peter under control. Entering the house Peter quickly commandeered the television. Alfred went into the kitchen and started to pull things from out of the cupboards, Arthur entered the kitchen as well standing where he could still keep an eye on Peter. Looking over to Alfred, Arthur saw him pulling some packages of meat from the fridge and set them on the counter followed by salt and pepper and a few other ingredients. Alfred then moved to a lower cabinet and pulled a skillet out, standing Alfred opened a drawer and pulled a knife and measuring spoons. Setting the skillet on the stove and the knife and measuring spoons onto the cutting board Alfred started heating up some oil in the skillet and opening the packages of meat. Arthur realized the meat was pork, and watched Alfred season the meat with salt and pepper. When the oil started boiling Alfred put the pieces into the skillet and washing his hands Alfred went to a different cutting board and started slicing onions. A couple of minutes later Alfred flipped the meat over and then moved to making green beans in another pot. Arthur bored with watching left the kitchen and went into the living room, sitting on the coach Arthur started to watch some show that Peter had the channel turned to. Half an hour later Arthur was reading a book he found under the end table, and Peter bored with the show was playing with his action figures.

"Dinners up!" Alfred called getting the attention of the two British personifications.

Peter jumped up leaving his toys in the middle of the floor, and Arthur closed the book. Placing the book back under the table Arthur entered the kitchen and saw Peter washing his hands in the sink and Alfred serving the food out onto the table. Arthur went to the sink as well and washed up, by time he turned around Peter was already in his chair trying to eat only to be stopped by Alfred.

"Wait until we sit down as well, then you can eat." Alfred said turning from the boy and checking to see if the stove was off and nothing was at risk of falling to the floor.

Surprised once again Arthur sat down as well and waited for Alfred to sit down. Once Alfred was seated Peter tried for his food again but waited a second look to Alfred, a nod from Alfred Peter started eating. Alfred also started eating and Arthur a few seconds later joined in as well surprised that the food wasn't that bad. They spent dinner listening to Peter talk about his time in the park and about all the kids he talked with and all the things they played and did. After dinner Peter asked if he could go and play, Alfred gave him permission but he had to put his own plate into the sink. Peter quickly did that and ran out the room, leaving the older nations alone in the kitchen. Alfred picked up his plate and took it to the sink and started to do dishes, Arthur soon followed with the remaining dishes. Leaving the dish cleaning to Alfred, Arthur grabbed a wet cloth and started wiping down the counters and surfaces.

"I'm surprised." Arthur said his back to Alfred.

Alfred paused in doing the dishes and looked over to Arthur confused.

"What?"

"I'm surprised how well you're handling Peter; I would never have suspected you would be as good as you are."

Alfred put a dish into the dishwasher and turned off the faucet, drying his hands on a dry towel he leaned against the counter.

"How would you expect me to be?"

"Like you usually are, you act so much like a child at times I would never let you watch Peter. I only did it today because I had too; I can now see my worries were for nothing."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Sorry but with you not having any experience with children and acting like one most of the time you can understand why I would think that."

"Yeah I guess." Alfred said tossing the towel on to the counter and left the kitchen.

Arthur frowned at the action but left Alfred be, after cleaning the kitchen Arthur entered the living room expecting to see Alfred there. Peter noticing Arthur looking around pausing in his game, he piped up.

"He went into his office." Peter said while pointing down the hall.

Arthur's frown deepened but deciding to give Alfred some space and that he properly had work to do returned to his seat at the couch and grabbed the book he was reading before. A couple of hours passed and Arthur checked the time and was surprised to see how late it was.

"Peter go wash up for bed."

"But Arth…"

"No buts hop to it."

Peter frowned and got up but was stopped by Arthur.

"Take your toys with you; we don't want to be leaving our mess around."

Grumbling Peter picked up his toys and left the room, half an hour later Arthur checked on Peter. The boy was in the room Alfred allowed him to use while they stayed with him, as soon as Peter saw Arthur he scrambled into bed. Arthur entered the room and went about picking up some of the things Peter left on the floor. Pausing at the bed Arthur made sure he was tucked in and giving a quick goodnight kiss Arthur turned to leave Peter's dirty clothes in his arms.

"Arthur?" Peter asked when Arthur stopped at the light switch.

"What is it lad?"

"Did you and Alfred get into a fight?"

Turning fully Arthur looked at Peter puzzled.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Alfred left the kitchen looking upset, and when he told me where he was going he seemed angry."

Arthur sighed "No Peter I think we had a misunderstanding."

"Are you going to talk about it with him?"

"Yes, now go to bed."

"Alright, night Arthur."

"Night Peter, have sweet dreams." Arthur said turning off the lights and closing the door.

Dropping the clothes off into his own room, Arthur went back to the living room. Casting a glance at the closed office door, Arthur decided to wait till he saw Alfred again to figure out what was going on. Sitting back on the coach Arthur started flipping through the channels. Stopping on some movie Arthur watched the movie until he started to doze.

Half asleep he didn't hear the office door opening or notice Alfred coming out. What he did notice was a large book being dropped onto his lap, jumping slightly Arthur looked down at the book that seemingly magically appeared onto his lap. Looking up he saw Alfred looking down at him, looking back at the book he peered at the cover the light of the T.V. not helping. Alfred turned on the end table light and the cover of the book became clearer, the title reading **memories**.

"What's this?'

"An explanation."

"I'm still confused."

Alfred sighed and sat down next to Arthur, pulling the book towards him-self Alfred opened the book. The book opened up to old drawings of children, Alfred flipped through the pages and Arthur began noticing the children look kind of like Alfred and that Alfred was in some of the drawings. As the pictures progressed the children grew older and new ones appeared, Arthur picked up the book and started flipping through it him-self becoming more and more confused.

"Who are these people?"

"They are my children."

"What?!" Arthur said looking at Alfred. "What do you mean children?"

"I mean as I saw, I have 50 sons and daughters."

"Their your states? When did this happen?"

"In 1813, I found a kid and a couple months later I found another. By the end of the year I had twenty children to take care of. They were some of the reasons why I wasn't out on the world stage as much. I was busy raising them and taking care of my country. They are also the reason why my houses have so many guest rooms. They are also the reason why I can take care of Peter so easy; if I can manage 50 kids at once I think I can handle one."

"How is it I have never heard of them before?"

"Because I keep them in the states, Matthew knows about them of course and so does Mexico and Cuba. They don't really have much interest in the outside world; they think all politics are boring and such. They only keep track of what their state is doing and what their neighbors are doing."

"What about the ones who share a border?"

"Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California don't really interact with Mexico directly they usually only try to keep border jumpers from crossing. And Florida pretty much ignores Cuba, and all of the one's who share a border with Matthew never have a problem with him since he is their Uncle. And Alaska avoids Ivan as much as he can properly due to the others picking on him for being originally Russian. And Hawaii she is a little shy around other people she doesn't know so I don't have to worry much about her."

That still doesn't explain how you prevent the others from finding out."

"My country is pretty huge, and my kids all know not to show themselves to the other nations. Some of them also have caretakers since they are either too immature to live alone, or to young. They also know to listen to what I tell them, I give them many freedoms but they have to follow certain rules to maintain that freedom and not end up living with me till they learn to appreciate that freedom."

"Seems like you got a pretty good system down but how often do you see them?"

"Every couple of months we all gather in one of the mansions that are scattered across the country, and I check in on them at least once a week by phone. I also have alerts that tell me if something is going on and I have people who keep an eye on them. Only the first 20 do I give complete freedom, and some of them it varies on their behavior."

"For a nation set on Freedom you are pretty strict with your kid's personal freedom."

"To keep your freedom you have to follow certain rules or risk losing it all."

Arthur nodded and once again started flipping through the book, looking at each picture carefully reading the names written beside them. Alfred moved closer to Arthur and started telling him about each child on the page. Arthur smiled softly hearing the note of fatherly pride in Alfred's voice as he talked, and allowed him to talk for hours on end not tiring of hearing that tone of pride in the usually childish American.


End file.
